Just a short heads up.
Over the coming days we hope to move this site onto Amazon's AWS hosting.
To this end we have updated the old PHP code to run in the latest versions so it can run on the newer servers etc.
If you spot anything that fails to work please let webmaster@car4play.com know what the URL is and what the issue is and we will have a look.
We then will migrate the database over to RDS and finally the site itself. Expect a few outages when we do the dump and switch. It should run on both servers at the same time but be a little slower in the transition.
Finally - happy new year to you all
Stephen
|
|
Thank you for the update and the forum.
|
|
Ditto. Great little corner of the www!
|
Ok - just moved the databsase to AWS RDS.
This means that although the server is still with us, the database isn't.
It's on a very low tier so at some point I will have to move it up a gear.
|
|
It is very, very slow at the moment. Will it speed up?
|
I had to upgrade the type straightaway. The one I put it on just couldn't cope.
It took a while to do the upgrade. It is there now though so we'll let it settle for a while and see.
Also changed the database format to one that writes quicker but is slower on read.
Although it does seem to be really slow at posting....
Last edited by: car4play on Tue 5 Jan 21 at 15:18
|
How well I remember the days of dial-up speeds, and now I'm living them again.
I'm not really complaining, it's not like we're paying for the service, just happy to have it. Thank you.
|
I'm afraid to say that this site is the guinea pig for our other services.
It's hard to know what impact a database shift will make until you actually move one across. This site is quite busy as sites go and doesn't really earn anything so it's a good test and allows us to play with the settings and see what is possible.
|
|
Well, its not too bad, certainly not dial up days. There is a definite lag, you can tell priority is low, but its delivered quickly when accessed.
|
|
Well I have been trawling through the queries on a local copy. Difficult because the code is 'quite' old. But discovered that rewriting the one for the Latest forum posts on the RHS sped it up from 6.5 seconds to 0.05. Can't find any blockbusters like this on the main thread viewing etc. which is a shame.
|
|
It should eventually speed up when the actual server is on AWS as at the moment all the database queries are being done remotely.
|
|
I look forward to our first cloud outage. Like real weather you cant forecast it, but you know its coming.
|
|
I rarely do it, but just had cause to as I thought Mark was having an unwarranted pop at me (he wasn't!! :-) ), but try going from flat to threaded view or back...
|
>> I thought Mark was having an unwarranted pop at me (he wasn't!! :-) ),
I wasn't having a pop or it wasn't unwarranted?
|
|
At 1st glance I thought your comment under mine in the Virus thread might have been a pop at me but in threaded view you can see it wasn't :-)
|
Ok - I have quickly setup the new hosting on AWS EC2.
This machine is Centos 8 (up from Centos 6), nginx + php-fpm instead of Apache+mod_php
and of course it is already on the AWS network so queries to the RDS are much faster.
..you can have a play at aws.car4play.com.
I'll move the domain over to this at some point and add a secure certificate.
|
.. there are some issues with it - more old php stuff that needs fixing....
|
|
In comparison, that aws domain absolutely flies at the moment.
|
Like lightning!
Tried Searching - appears ok and quick
and if this reply appears posting works ok too.
|
>> and if this reply appears posting works ok too.
Nope. Never saw it.
|
Wow that's better.
So as we know - are both sites "live" i.e. nothing posted henceforth will be lost whether it was posted on the old or new site when you complete the transfer, and we can therefore use whichever suits us best?
Or would you prefer that we stayed on the old one for the time being?
|
Blimey, thats zippy.
(as in quick0
|
Smokie, they both use the same AWS database, so you can see for yourself that changes are reflected on both sites
|
>> Smokie, they both use the same AWS database, so you can see for yourself that
>> changes are reflected on both sites
>>
>>
Yes, I had worked that out, but the question was really for the benefit of many of our regulars who would equate most of what your writing with double dutch! :-)
|
|
Smokie, kindness on social media? What is the world in 2021 coming to?
|
Smokie if you are still around can you check out the admin stuff is ok?
All looks present and correct to me... smokie
Last edited by: smokie on Tue 5 Jan 21 at 18:01
|
|
OK, having a look now... brb
|
Yep admin stuff is fine as far as I can see.
When you get slow service on a forum it makes you realise the progress that's been made. How did we ever have the patience when it was always slow?
Crankcase has raised a minor issue (below) - I've verified it.
Last edited by: smokie on Tue 5 Jan 21 at 18:03
|
.. just still fixing deprecated calls to PHP...
It just takes a whie to setup GIT and so forth on the new server, but this is now done
Last edited by: car4play on Tue 5 Jan 21 at 17:41
|
Are you making plans for when IBM Red Hat deliberately inadvertently breaks Centos 8 to force you to Stream?
|
|
TBH we could just as well use Amazon's own Linux EC2 server because there isn't anything special that this server needs now. It used to be that you couldn't install phpMyAdmin on them, but we don't use that anymore with RDS.
|
New hiccup. If you hover over the "up arrow" top left of a post, then it normally pops up a box showing the contents of the post that the one you are reading is in reply to.
It's always just opened a yellow box with the text in and stayed there - now, at least for me, it opens and closes instantly. Move the mouse a hint and it opens and closes again. At no point unless you are a speed reader can you read the contents.
Edit - in fact it looks as if it's opening and instantly closing TWO yellow boxes with different text in each, but too quick for these old eyes to make out.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Tue 5 Jan 21 at 17:56
|
There is something funny about the way it opens, but I don't know if that is what it normally did. On the www.car4plya.com site it seems to do the same as on this aws one, that is it opens very quickly with nothing in it, then goes, then reloads with the correct content and stays open.
Once it has done this it reloads ok.
Last edited by: car4play on Tue 5 Jan 21 at 18:10
|
Wow, this is quick.
I had to give up on the old one a few times as it just hung for ages.
|
Ok chaps. Will you please speak in language i can understand. I am but a simple soul.
It's slow and not happening for me.
|
>> Ok chaps. Will you please speak in language i can understand. I am but a
>> simple soul.
>>
>> It's slow and not happening for me.
Are you on this one?
aws.car4play.com/
|
>>aws.car4play.com
It's fast. Thanks.
|
|
I am now. That's better thanks. :) Fast!!
Last edited by: Fullchat on Wed 6 Jan 21 at 00:36
|
Works well for me, too.
Thanks.
|
Thanks for that, much better.
Will the address still have the aws bit on in the future?
|
That's a great improvement, thanks
|
Not brilliant for me..
Spinning beach ball means slow loading between pages and lag with typing, now my fans are going mad which didn't happen with the old site.
I know I have an older laptop but the lag is making this almost unusable?
|
You are def using this one Rudedog?
aws.car4play.com/forum/
Last edited by: smokie on Wed 6 Jan 21 at 09:01
|
Yep, the new one.
Usually I have my fans going when there are loads of ads loading, causes the whole site to slow, the issue is the lag with the typing.
PS - I'm writing this reply from my work PC which is new W10 machine (just got in due to the snow here in Biggin Hill).
Edit - even on this PC when I went to post there was a noticeable delay.
Last edited by: Rudedog on Wed 6 Jan 21 at 10:25
|
>> You are def using this one Rudedog?
>>
>> aws.car4play.com/forum/
All I get is "Cannot reach this page"
|
>> All I get is "Cannot reach this page"
Still get this. Tried on 3 separate web browsers too.
|
|
I'd suspect slow updates to the DNS servers you're using.
|
|
Hands up - I made a mistake on the DNS which I then fixed very quickly. But because you are always on this site your PC has cached the mistake as you got to it with the error. There are commands on Mac that you can use to clear the DNS cache. Don't know how to do it on Windows.
|
|
Command Prompt in Admin Mode "ipconfig /flushdns"
|
>> Thanks for that, much better.
>>
>>
>> Will the address still have the aws bit on in the future?
Nope, seems that currently the database is on the amazon cloud, and the server is somewhere else, both will be reunited, and the www will be ok again.
|
Very slow today on here - not "the other one".
Mobile (Android) will not load any threads from here.
|
That's correct.
The database is shared.
www is on the original server
aws is the new one on Amazon Web Services
the aws one is quick because the database queries required for each page load are sent within Amazon's private network at up to 2GB/s whereas our original server is throttled to 100MB/s
I didn't think there was that much database traffic for that amount of slowdown, but it is also down to the latency between calls and on around 100 queries per page (with lots of posts) it can add up.
When it has settled down I will move the DNS over so that www is the same as aws, and also add a secure certificate so it will be
|
Stephen
Just added a link to a thread that should have shown a chart, but when I click it (using IE) it takes me to the C4P home page
www.speakev.com/attachments/1609924591476-png.139249/
|
Me too
(on the original site)
|
...works for me (on both). (chrome)
I'm seeing some differences in the red "new" designation against thread titles.
In most circumstances, the "new" designation does not appear to have cleared after viewing the thread, and re-entering the particular forum section/refreshing the thread listings. Clicking on the "new", however, does not navigate to any (previously) "new" post, simply to the head of the thread - so a partial reset is happening.
This may be associated with running privacy extensions, as attempting the same in an incognito session with the extension not active appears to function as expected. (NB. prior to the changes, the "new" linkage worked perfectly, despite having active privacy extensions, and still does on the old site).
Last edited by: tyrednemotional on Wed 6 Jan 21 at 12:30
|
Well, either somebody's been very quick, or the access via the "icognito" method" has rest something, because, despite having consistent results with the "new" problem described above, it has now corrected itself.
(although it might be because (I think) I've logged in for the first time on the new site - there definitely are some "funnies" in using both sites in parallel - it shows me logged in on both, but I can't log out on the old one!).
So, I suspect the symptoms I've experienced will disappear once all is back to a single site.
As you were!
|
|
It's now a single site with a secure certificate and redirect to the secure site
|
I suspect there may be some problems in DNS propagation, but:
- If I use the old url (without the AWS. prefix) I now get a copy of the database from yesterday :-s
- If I use the AWS. version, it is up to date but still not "secure".
(This directly after a DNS flush on my machine)
Last edited by: tyrednemotional on Wed 6 Jan 21 at 13:59
|
- tyrednemotional - yes it was if you happened to hit the site with the wrong DNS on it. The PC caches the bad address.
The secure cert is only on car4play.com and www.car4play.com
S
Last edited by: car4play on Wed 6 Jan 21 at 14:05
|
|
Yes. Access from phone is what I would now expect from your completed work.
|
|
Thanks - the link redirect is dying on the secure server.. fixing...
|
|
I'm seeing more recent replies on the aws site than the www site.
|
>> I'm seeing more recent replies on the aws site than the www site.
There is a definite issue with replication between the two sites currently.
Edit, stuff entered on the www site is not appearing on the AWS site and Vicky Verka.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 6 Jan 21 at 18:12
|
Z, I rather got the impression that the original site had now been deprecated, and that the new site should be being targeted by the original URL. (i.e. that the job is done and replication removed)
It seems to be that way for me (if I now use the non-AWS. url, then from performance and my experience of an older version of the database previously, as posted above, along with the fact that I'm now accessing a certificated/secure version, I believe I am hitting the new implementation - to restate, by using the old "car4play.com").
Of course, I've flushed my DNS cache, and I use Google's DNS servers, which are generally quick to update. Anyone who hasn't flushed DNS cache, and/or who is on slower-updated DNS servers (or indeed, hasn't closed the original browser window today) and is using the non-aws. url may well be accessing either, or both (if more than one window open) of the versions.
I may be wrong, but I do only see one version now.
Last edited by: tyrednemotional on Wed 6 Jan 21 at 18:58
|
>> I may be wrong, but I do only see one version now.
I see posts that have gone missing, I also see the www version is slow and the AWS version was not, I also have no access to the AWS version, deprecated or not.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 6 Jan 21 at 19:18
|
>> There is a definite issue with replication between the two sites currently.
I've been experiencing this since approx. 12:45 today. At work I couldn't see any new posts until yours this afternoon at 15:15. I posted a test post in the moderators area to see if things were working, and had a quick exchange of posts with Stephen.
Now, depending on what browser I use, and url link, I can and also can't see those messages. Something is totally out of sync somewhere. Weird.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 6 Jan 21 at 19:20
|
|
I have in the latest forum posts sidebar, a post from Terry about electric vehicles. If I click on it I get "thread does not exist" page.
|
That might be down to me. I've been checking the move post function works correctly using a post in that thread. But when I just tried it, it's vanished into cyberspace somewhere.
It's not been deleted (I hope) just hiding behind the sofa somewhere. Stephen had to find another post I tried to move earlier.
|
|
Everything about the site - time to get in, time for threads to load - is still watching-paint-dry slow for me.
|
>> Everything about the site - time to get in, time for threads to load -
>> is still watching-paint-dry slow for me.
>>
Are you using aws.car4play.com ?
I am finding it much quicker than the old site.
|
Bug Report on the AWS site.
The thumbs up don't seem to be working.
|
Aren't we supposed to have gone back to the www site?
I have, and currently my previous issues seem to have improved.
|
|
AT the moment the aws URL is fine for me; the old URL is much slower and the 'new' marker isn't working.
|
I would use the www.car4play.com address from now on.
The aws.car4play.com address was only there to test under non-secure etc.
|
>> I would use the www.car4play.com address from now on.
>>
>> The aws.car4play.com address was only there to test under non-secure etc.
The forum link at the top of the page (next to My Drive, Policies/Terms, About Us) still points to the aws address.
|
forum link at the top...
Ok - ta done
|
...which are the symptoms I was getting, due, I think, to DNS cacheing.
Once I flushed the DNS cache, the old URL connected me (securely - HTTPS) to the new site - the "padlock" and performance being a convincing sign. (The DNS cache on your machine will hold a reference to the old site for quite some time until/unless flushed).
As I posted above, I believe the old site has been deprecated, but anyone who's DNS cache is not flushed, or who's DNS server(s) have not been updated yet, is likely to get the old site by using the old url, and I suspect the old aws. accessible site has been deprecated.
Update of DNS servers is dependent on which ones you use (and by default it is likely to be defined by your ISP); sometimes changes take time to propagate.
You can (on Windows) however flush the cached DNS resolution on your machine, which will cause the resolution to be reloaded on next use, and hopefully with the new value if your DNS server has been updated.
Close any open Car4play browser window(s).
Click on the "windows" symbol on the task line to get the start menu.
With the menu window active, simply type "comm" (without the quotes - and no need to place the cursor anywhere)
That should present "Command Prompt" as an option - choose run as administrator on the list
At the cursor position in the resulting window type "ipconfig /flushdns" without the quotes, and press enter.
You should get a confirmation message, and any old url routeing that is cached on your machine should be reloaded (hopefully with a new value) next time you use the url.
|
>> Aren't we supposed to have gone back to the www site?
It always defaults to that on my PC, although this morning it's now https instead of http.
I am still missing a load of posts from yesterday morning, as well as the one I moved as a test in the evening.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 7 Jan 21 at 10:32
|
>> Fixed now
Did you see the email I sent you earlier this morning?
|
I was referring to the "old" site.
However, today things seem very much better.
|
|
'Old' URL working great now, thanks.
|
Threads on Non-Motoring have new posts highlighted as normal, but those in the motoring section don't.
Anyone else having that issue?
|
|
Both working fine for me.
|
|
If you can delete the cookie for the site it will reset the New flags - but everything will be set to New so I generally use the Mark All Read button then after that it seems OK.
|
|
Seems as slow as before this morning. Side bar takes a long time to load, as do new posts etc.
|
Website updates - Fullchat
